“The masseur providing massage to jailed Delhi min Satyendar Jain is a prisoner Rinku. He’s a prisoner in a rape case, charged u/s 6 of POCSO Act and 376, 506 & 509 of IPC. He’s not a physiotherapist,” the sources claimed.
This comes a day after Delhi Chief Minister denied BJP’s allegations of Jain being given a ‘massage’ inside the jail, and claimed that it was ‘physiotherapy’.
The war of claims and counter-claims from Bharatiya Janata Party and Aam Aadmi Party has been underway since the CCTV footage came to the fore on November 19.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday had claimed that the CCTV footage that went viral showing Jain being given a full-body massage was a “treatment for injury”.
“Only BJP can make cruel jokes by leaking CCTV footage of an injured person’s treatment… His (Satyendar Jain’s) spine was damaged, it’s on record,” Sisodia had said on Saturday.
However, the Deputy Chief Minister’s claim was refuted by the Indian Association of Physiotherapists.
The body also demanded an apology for “degrading physiotherapy”.
Calling out the Minister, the Indian Association of Physiotherapists tweeted on Saturday, “IAP strongly condemns the statement of the minister degrading physiotherapy by comparing it with massage given to another minister. Shows the level of education and knowledge they have about our noble profession.”
Earlier on Saturday, the former PRO of the Tihar jail said that it cannot be physiotherapy as the video clearly showed that co-inmates were giving him a massage.
Sunil Gupta, former PRO of the Tihar jail told ANI that the video makes it clear that other prisoners of the prison were giving the minister a massage.
“Massage is different from physiotherapy. Physiotherapy is given in physiotherapy wards in the hospital,” he said.
The purported CCTV footage dated September 13 shows the minister lying on his bed while a man seated next to him is seen massaging his foot.
In another video shared by BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla on his official Twitter handle, a man is seen massaging the Delhi minister’s legs and back before proceeding to give him a full head massage.
The videos surfaced on social media on Saturday, 10 days after the ED accused the Delhi minister, was arrested in a money laundering case, of getting special treatment inside the Tihar jail.
Jain has been in jail since June. A Delhi court denied his bail application on November 16.
(With Inputs from ANI)